Godzilla (2014) REVIEW

“The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around.”

GOJIRA! THE KING OF MONSTERS! Yup he’s back, and bigger (physically larger and more popular) than ever!

The film’s plot centers around the Brody family, with Aaron Taylor Johnson playing Ford, Bryan Cranston playing Joe and Elizabeth Olsen portraying Elle, as the eponymous star of the film rises from the ocean.

Right off the bat i loved this movie. Sure it had flaws, and many of them, but this is a Godzilla movie, what do you expect? It hankered back to 70’s/80’s Steven Spielberg movies in a way as the director, Gareth Edwards, creates a vast amount of build up to the reveal of the character everyone wants to see, much like Jaws. And yes i say character. Godzilla has obvious emotions in this reinterpretation – you see his struggle, his sadness, etc. Since this is a non-spoiler review, i will steer clear of talking about Godzilla’s motivations, as it would reveal too much.

The film mainly focuses on the human characters, who are largely uninteresting, although entertaining. I enjoyed each performance in the film, even though most were pretty wooden. All apart from Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe, who gave heavy and visceral performances, adding gravitas to the cast. Cranston was criminally underused, but for good reason – the sections of the film not featuring him don’t need to, and he would have fell forced if he had been put in more. As i said, Aaron Taylor Johnston doesn’t exactly show acting chops, but he is a passable hero who fits the job. Elizabeth Olsen is better, but still nothing special. She spends the majority of the film gasping and acting alarmed, which does provide her with a more taxing role than Johnston has. Juliette Binoche and Sally Hawkins are both good, but again nothing special. I actually thought that they looked so similar that i was constantly mixing up their characters. But the real star, of course, is Godzilla, and when he is introduced after a gigantic amount of build up and visual teasing, his presence is spellbinding.

The end fight between Godzilla and the M.U.T.O’S, the other kaiju in the film, is spectacular, both visually and cinematically. The CGI here is outstanding, and the direction of the final fight cannot be faulted. There is also a moment of pure joy involving Godzilla’s mouth and the colour blue which had the audience in pure joy. I won’t say any more. See it and believe the complete awesomeness of the scene.

The script is slightly stilted, but fun. It combines fantastic, adrenaline pumping speeches with some corny B-movie dialogue, which ironically feels out of place here in this gritty re-imagining. The cinematography is beautiful, and i expected nothing less since Gareth Edwards was directing. That man’s visual flare is outstanding, as shown in his previous escapade, Monsters.

Overall, i would have to say that this is almost the perfect summer popcorn movie. It has action, drama, suspense, twists, turns, romance, the lot. It is highly enjoyable, but is let down by somewhat stale human characters. Furthermore, it contains multiple forgettable scenes in the first half.

8/10

Monsters (2010) REVIEW

Posted by harveygardner

“Doesn’t that kind of bother you, that you need something bad to happen to profit from it?”

“You mean, like a doctor?”

As Gareth Edwards new movie ‘Godzilla’ comes out on Thursday (UK release), i thought i would watch and review his first feature film – Monsters. I will hopefully review the original Godzilla film (Gojira) and the other American Godzilla remake before my review of the new film is posted.

Monsters tells the story of a photographer named Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) as he is told by his publisher that he must bring his daughter home to him safely, because the area that she is in has been attacked by extraterrestrials. These aliens have been taken to earth after a NASA space probe crash lands in Mexico, and subsequently breaks down life around it. People struggle to survive as America tries desperately to destroy the creature.

The main characters Kaulder and Samantha Wynden are really the only substantial characters in the film, as it solely tracks them on their journey. They thankfully don’t disappoint in their roles and are easily watchable and very well-developed. Kaulder, as a photographer, constantly has a cynical outlook on life as he tells Sam that he didn’t start the tragedy, he just documents it, overtly trying to detach his emotions and feelings towards the horrific things he sees around him. But as the film progresses he is shown to be more than just a bumbling pessimist and is emotionally broken at certain times, not because of the monsters, but because of his family situation and the fact that his child cannot know that he is his father. Sam on the other had is shown to be less cynical and more naive. She is awestruck at some of the things that she sees and therefore doesn’t conceal her emotions, like Kaulder often does. Her personality is often concealed however, as it is clearly shown throughout that she is nervous around Kaulder, because of his apparent love towards her, and vise versa.

The movie therefore focuses more on the humans than the monsters, which i loved. I’m not much of a monster movie guy, but the monster sub-plot and the main plot of Sam and Andrew really kept me intrigued. The Monsters however are beautifully realised as giant flying octopus looking beings.

As the movie progresses we learn more about the plight of the monsters and humans alike. Lots of social commentary on warfare and themes such as morality are present throughout and provide a deeper level of meaning to the piece. Although much the theme of the killing seemingly innocent alien beings and the morality of that is a cliche, it works, and it doesn’t hinder the film in any way. It actually makes that plot even more substantial than it is in most movies in which an alien comes to Earth, as it is played almost as very dark un-comical satire.

Above all else, this love story with monsters is a quality piece of low budget film-making, which obviously took a lot of effort and thought to make. It is strange that a film with such a simple story of basically saving and returning a metaphorical ‘princess’ has had such an effect on me. Aside from a few dull and forgettable scenes Monsters is a quiet masterpiece that i will definitely watch again.

9/10